I have been awaiting the release of Charlotte Tilbury’s Scent of A Dream for what seems like forever! I’d read everything about her inspiration and her muse, and the vision she had for the video, which is amazing. It tells you everything you need to know about the perfume, as much as one can without smelling it. Once you smell the perfume, you understand what Charlotte’s magical and bewitching ideas for Kate and the aspect of attraction. This behind the scenes video is so cool:

Perfume is something I relate to on an emotional and visceral level, so perhaps that’s why I appreciate Charlotte’s story and construct around her perfume. There was a slow build up to this release, with little teasers being released here and there, whetting our appetite for something new, something fresh. The notes weren’t much help, with words like “fleurotic”, which I love.

Honestly with many perfume ingredients being constructed synthetic molecules, I almost prefer to not know what the ad copy wants me to think the perfume smells like. I never read the notes until after I try a perfume and I’m glad about that. It makes wearing the perfume for the first time a mysterious journey, usually filled with “oh this reminds me of something!” as the perfume progresses from top to base notes and dries down on the skin. I actually wrote the title of this post “magical molecules” before reading about her perfume on her website. She gets me.

The top notes are certainly happy and uplifting, and I smell the crisp citrus and bergamot right off the top, made interesting and fun with pepper and saffron. Saffron is a delicious scent, so subtle and warm, and I adore it in perfume. The top notes of Scent Of A Dream are like a blast of happiness and who doesn’t want a little of that in their lives?

The heart is the “Fleurotic” bit, and oh my how I love it. It is the classic “kitchen sink of florals” that you find in the chypres of the 70s and 80s, the gorgeous drop dead sexy disco queens like Ungaro Diva, Paloma Picasso and L’Arte di Gucci. I love them, they’re so rich you can almost taste them when you wear them. I can see the flickering disco ball and the ghosts of Halston’s original and Choc de Cardin – why, it must be the peach! Tuberose, jasmine, frankincense, violet and patchouli would make a beautiful perfume all on it’s own, but woven between the fruits on the top and the “magical molecules” of the base, what we have, dear reader, is heaven.

The base notes that stands out for me is Iso E Super, the stuff that makes up one of my favourite perfumes, Eccentric Molecules Molecule 01 (reviewed here). It’s so interesting in Scent of A Dream, though, as it’s woven beautifully with the top and heart notes by the perfumer. Iso E Super smells like warm woodsy skin musk to me, and Ambroxan is hard to detect, but it’s a clean, salty and creamy all at the same time (it’s in Dolce & Gabbana Light Blue in copious amounts). Hedione is a molecule that replicates jasmine, but not a heavy floral jasmine. Hedione is the sexy and carnal aspect of jasmine, used Christian Dior Eau Sauvage, and it made jasmine masculine and seriously sexy. I’m a musk whore, I admit it, and love anything that smells like warm sexy skin. SIGN ME UP!

even Kitty can’t resist the allure of Scent Of A Dream

All in all, I feel like Scent Of A Dream let us all get to know a little more about Charlotte Tilbury. She has a love for the intoxicating beauty of the super sexy floral chypres of the seventies and eighties, and I feel like I’d love to hang out with her. I’m vibing on her aesthetic big time. I love the old school glamour of the bottle as well. It makes me think of something that needs a beautiful mirrored vanity table and marabou feather powder puffs, for spritzing while I lounge in my silk negligee set.

Scent Of A Dream makes me think of a fabulous party with amazing music, lots of dancing, bare shoulders and warm skin, holding your partner close under the magical moving glitter of the lights reflecting off the disco ball. You don’t want the song to end, because you don’t want to let go. You feel that electric attraction, skin on skin, and it’s like a dream.